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Shall I play in that weir again?
Frome Canoe Club is affiliated to the British Canoe Union and is a Registered Charity (Number 1104728)
Newsletter
P8 for Rich’s article about the Frome trip
P13 for details
Volume 38 Issue3 March 2014
See p12 to find out.
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In this issue
3 Calendar in brief
4 Pool sessions
5 Courses
6 River Frome trip
6 Easter Egg Hunt
7 Sunday morning paddle
7 Future dates
14 Axe Race
8 Shall I play in that weir again?
10 The AGM
12 How did Jack do that?
13 Social `
15 Advice from our Head Coach
16 Little Jack’s article
17 Bits and Pieces
CALENDAR: details
REPORTS
SPECIALS
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Send articles for the next issue to [email protected] by 27th March
THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
President
Graham Warnecke
Vice Presidents
Richard and Jane Arney
Jim and Catharine Croft
Chairman
Alun Jones
Vice Chairman
Gareth McGiveron
Treasurer
John Kent
Secretary
Pam Dixon
16 Blagdon Walk, Frome, BA11 2YH
Committee Members
Arthur Belbin
Rich Carter
Richard Heal
Jonathan Howell
Tracey Lemon
Stuart Miles
Kit Officers
Tim and Sally Smiles
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Calendar 2014
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Date Event Standard Contact
March
7 Polo at the pool - non contact game All Jack S
14 NO POOL SESSION All Pam D
15/16 Tryweryn weekend Two Star/Discover cttee
19 Coaches meeting Volunteers Rich C
21 Polo at the pool for experienced Experienced Jack S
22/23 Level 1 Coach training Participants Pam D
30 Sunday morning at Market Yard All Rich C
April
4 LAST POOL SESSION All Pam D
6 River Frome Trip One Star/Passport tbc
12 Scotland trip leaves for one week Experienced Neil D
13 Junior Slalom training Young people John K
20 Junior Slalom training Young people John K
21 Easter Egg Hunt All Pam D
23 FIRST WEDNESDAY SESSION All Pam D
25 Mini Slalom Young people John K
27 Junior Slalom training Young people John K
May
4 River Frome trip All tbc
Strict adherence to the Club’s code of conduct is expected at all times on club events .
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POOL SESSIONS
Frome Leisure Centre Fridays, 8-9pm
Cost £2.80 (young people), £3.30 (adults)
Having fun!
Paddling about
Learning to roll
Practising capsizes
Playing canoe polo
Meeting other club members
You will need to bring swimming cos-
tume and towel. (T-shirt is
optional.)
We provide the boats, paddles and
spraydecks.
There are pool boats, playboats and
a Sit-on-Top for you to use.
And when you are not paddling you
can mess about in the small pool.
Canoe polo at pool in March: 7th March for the non contact game and 21st March for the contact game.
NO POOL SESSION ON 14th MARCH
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CLUB COURSES
Courses for OVER-14s One Star £40 An introductory course for beginners to the sport. An evening course: 6/13/20 May A day course: Saturday 12 July
Two Star £55 A course to progress from One Star. A seven week course on Tuesday evenings , 7-9pm Starting 3 June
Three Star: £65 A course over two Sundays and three Thursday evenings. The flat water compo-nents of this award will be covered in the first four sessions and the white water sections will be covered on the last Sun-day in a trip to Symonds Yat. Sunday 15 June Thursday evenings: 19 Jun, 3 Jul, 11 Sept Sunday 21 September
Canoe Safety (FSRT): £35 28/29 June Over two days, the training will be at Langham Farm. Certificates: £5 BCU members /£10 non BCU members
Courses for YOUNG PEOPLE Passport £35 An introductory 7 week course for the under 14s. Wednesdays, 7-8pm. First course starts 14 May Second course starts 9 July
Discover £48 This follows on from the Passport course and develops the skills you learned in Passport. It is a 12 week course, designed for under-14s. Wednesdays 7– 8.30pm. Start date - 21 May
Aquatic First Aid: £30 9 August An 8 hour course focusing on water based incidents, it includes loads of CPR. Certificates: £6 BCU members /£9 non BCU
For more information and an application form, pick up a
Courses leaflet from the club-house or pool session.
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Calendar in detail
Carl, Kurt and Neil on the Allta Chourinn, a steep rockslide in Glen Etive.
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River Frome 6th April Meet 9am at the Clubhouse Cost £3 Organiser - Rich Carter
This a trip designed for the newer paddlers in the club, but that does not stop you more experianced paddlers taking part.
The Frome is a grade 1 river (flat with a little moving water) and a number of weirs, which you can portage if you do not like the look of. Distance is 4 to 5 miles depending on what section we do.
Paddling kit is supplied by the club - all you need to bring is the clothes to paddle in, a packed lunch, yourself and as many friends as you like. Don‘t forget a set of dry clothes for the end.
It is a good trip for Passport or One Star paddlers. Remember that at this time of the year the water will be cold and the weather may be cool, so you will need to come prepared with warm clothes (see p15 for more about warm clothes) and energy food.
The section we will paddle will be decided on the day and will of course depend on water levels. trip.
EASTER EGG HUNT 21st April Clubhouse Cost £2.50 Come and hunt for Easter Eggs along the banks of the River Frome by our clubhouse! We will work in teams to find as many clues as we can to locate the
Easter eggs! We will hunt for them in open boats or kayaks whichever your team chooses. This event is always good fun and ideal for families to take part in!
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Carl, Kurt and Neil on the Allta Chourinn, a steep rockslide in Glen Etive.
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Calendar in detail
MONTHLY SUNDAY MORNING PADDLES
Last Sunday of the month Market Yard
10am till noon, Cost £2.50
Our last Sunday morning paddle of this season.
Sessions are more relaxed than the normal Wednesday club nights and so you get to paddle around and do your own thing.
30th March
Calling Coaches and Volunteers
A Meeting 19th March, 7pm
Clubhouse
To look at the programme for 2013 (Wednesdays and courses). Do come if you are interested in help-ing.
Previous experience is not a requirement!
Advance notice about some future dates
Easter Egg Hunt 21st April (Easter Monday)
Grand Team Event 11th May. Working in teams of three, race though the sla-lom poles at Market Yard. Always good fun.
Try-a-boat day 18th May . A chance to try out some boats which are a bit dif-ferent
Langham Farm Slalom 7th/8th June. Great for beginners!
Biblins 5/6th July. This is a fully catered, camping and paddling weekend. We get to paddle the River Wye on two days.
Market Yard Slalom 20th July. Based at the clubhouse this time.
Summer Barbeque 10th August. We’ll have some fun again - races? Or some other challenge? Give us your ideas!
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Shall I play in that weir again?
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Shall I play in that weir again? Aka The Frome Trip, 9th February By Rich Carter
On a mild Sunday morning we huddled in a group at the clubhouse, as we do. The conversation was about which sec-tion of the river to do.
Should we do Creamery to Langham Farm, or try a lower section – Woolver-ton to Iford? With numbers down a bit, it definitely made the tricky get out at Iford a possibility. A loud shout went up for the lower section or perhaps it was Rich who said “Let’s do the lower” and others said “Whatever”.
So with Andy V kindly doing the shut-tle, we were there at Woolverton. Wa-ter was up and flowing fast. “Follow me” said Toad. And Badger went off. (Sorry, wrong book!). Lead on Jack.
Now as many of you who went on the New Years Day Paddle will know, the first weir can be a bit tricky. In larger water the shoot is on the left. But it is exciting – the thrill of the run up, the whoosh as you go over, the thrill as you come out the other side, the terror as you know that you have stopped paddling and are going backwards, followed by a back loop, then the cold thrill – swim followed by the excite-ment as two of your fellow paddlers come to your rescue. You are told to
swim away so you are not in the way and we all watch as one of the rescu-ers ends up in the stopper. I’m glad it was you Jack, and not me!
We did reunite the paddler with all of their equipment, eventually.
All I can say is a lot of us have swum in that stopper, and if you can cope with that, there are not many that will send a cold shiver down your spine.
I was going to end the write up here, but I must mention Richard H who picked up three points at the Zoom Flume. A capsize followed by a great swim. If only it had happened in the Flume and not the run out, but points are points.
Team work: Alun hangs onto Rich and Rich pulls out the kayak.
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Pictures from the Frome trip
Paddlers and Points Women: Kath N and Pam D. Men: Alun J, Andrew L, Ian J (4), Jack O, Jack S, John K, Rich C, Rich H (3) and Stuart M.
And finally Andrew Lyall says this:
One of the best river trips ever. Lots of water, plenty of entertainment along the way (from club members), great scenery and all on our own door step.
Rich here at Tellisford Weir
Below: Ian comes up after a roll at Langham Farm. Alun is on hand just in case!
Now why couldn’t Ian do this at Woolverton weir?
Above: John here at the Zoom Flume, the place where Rich H got his three points. The wave was big today!
Rode Weir was washed out
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The AGM
Staying with the same crew at the top, we have:
Alun - Chair
Gareth - Vice Chair
John – Treasurer
Pam - Secretary
The rest of the committee is: Arthur Belbin Rich Carter Rich Heal Jonathan Howell Tracey Lemon Stuart Miles
We say goodbye to Sally Smiles who leaves the committee after a two year stint. But she is not leaving us! She’ll be around on Wednesdays organising the sessions for us! Thank you Sally!
New on the committee are Tracey and Rich. You will know Tracey because she is the person who helps us every week in the kit room at our Wednesday sessions. Not a very nice job, but she always does it with a smile on her face!
And the other newcomer is Rich H - now will that get confusing at meet-ings?
The first thing that needs to be said is thank you all for turning up! It was a in fact record breaking attendance with 27 people there. So Graham’s words at the Social did have an effect!
The 2014 committee, minus Arthur Belbin and Rich Heal who couldn’t be there
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AGM continued
T’other Rich continues with his role of Head Coach. Thank you Rich.
The meeting heard from John about the finances and we are still afloat. Pam gave a summary of the year and spoke of the successes of 2013.
We amended the Constitution as requested by our Independ-ent Examiner (auditor) and we voted to increase the member-ship fees.
Kate raised a point about young people and the difficulty some parents have in paying the trip fee when more than one wanted to go. There was discus-sion about this and the commit-tee will revisit it at the first committee meeting.
All in all, it was a very pleasant evening. We had some banter coming from the two front rows, a good show of hands every time we had a vote, and there was the most delicious Simnel cake, baked by Andy V. Thank you.
Thanks to everyone for turning up and supporting us. See you on the next paddle!
OUR ACHIEVEMENTS OF 2013
Another vibrant year with a good programme
Some creative new ideas
Being supported by so many volunteers
Development of open boating in the club
Increased participation on slalom and two
Div 1 paddlers
Slalom training day for the Region (women
and girls)
The Coach course arranged
Type 2014 charge
Youth £20
Adult £30
Family (2+4) £50
Bankside No charge
New Annual Membership Fees
WEDNESDAY SESSION CHARGE
The charge is to increase to £2.50 per member
(Families maximum £7.50)
Wednesday club sessions start on 23rd April
Anyone wanting copies of the Treasurer’s report, the accounts or the Secretary’s report please email Pam or look on the web site—John will have put them there!
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Jack’s recovery after the epic rescue!
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Continued from front page
Without a moments hesitation, Jack went in to rescue Ian and managed to pull him out of the stopper. Then by a cruel twist of fate, the stopper got Jack. Well
Jack held it together, sculled all the way to river right and finally got free. Not many could have done that. It was a monster of a stopper and even Rich said ‘Rather him than me! ‘
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The Social - with 73 of us, it was the best ever!
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From left to right, back row: Ben, Rich, Jonathan, Gareth, John, Ben, and George. Front row: Summer, Pam, Jack.
2013 Social - A really good turn out made the evening one of our best. Thank you to George for organising the IT side of things, to Sam, Jane, Sally and Su for helping with the food, to Gareth for bringing the ergo, to Juliet for selling raffle tickets and to you all for begin so generous: the raffle made a cool £100 for the coffers!
Our 2013 winners of the awards:
Sumer Vowell Youth Cup - Most improved young female
Jamie Easton Youth Cup - Most improved young male
Ben Nicol Bayman Trophy - Best result in a National Competition
Jack Overhill Langham Trophy - Best result in the Langham Slalom
Janine Masters Ivor Morgan Trophy - for coaching
Ben Trippick Steve Allen Trophy - Most Improved newcomer
George McGiveron Volunteers Cup - Volunteer of the year
Jonathan Howell Editor’s Trophy - Best contribution to the newsletter
Gareth McGiveron Copper Noseclip - For the most swims
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Axe Race
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CONTACT: Axe Vale Canoe Club. Colin Schofield, 07889 842104,
email: [email protected]
Ed: Or if you want to speak to someone in the club, John and Andrew are going to be competing in a K2, and can give you more information if you ask them.
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Our Head Coach Speaks
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Winter clothing ‘It is easier to take layers off’
Paddlers are now going on rivers with much better kit, than say 20 years ago.
With the advent of dry tops and dry trousers, and of course today’s must-have-dry-suit, we are able to keep cold water off us, and so at the finish we are nice and dry.
However this has led to the idea that if you are dry, you must be warm. Wrong! Cold water will remove heat from your body even though you are not getting wet. If you have dry kit on, there must be layers of
insulating material between your body and the cold.
What we are finding is that paddlers are not wearing enough layers. One layer will not keep you warm. So I am talking of 3 top layers, and do not forget the legs and feet! In cold weather you will need 2 layers on the legs and a pair of warm socks as well. To finish it off, a thin thermal hat under your skid lid.
Remember it is easier to take layers off, so go prepared to stay warm.
Ed: Thank you Rich, for explaining it to us all. What Rich didn’t say was that the committee is going to help people get an idea of what they need to wear to stay warm. And so we are going to have some samples for you to look at and see!
Megan and Sally have done some research and found the best deals. They will be having some tops and bottoms for you to look at and to purchase directly from us, if you like them.
LOOK OUT FOR THEM ON WEDNESDAY CLUB SESSIONS!
Or ask Megan at pool sessions if you want to find out more about the thermals we will be selling.
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Members’ Page
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Jack Kimber’s picture of Big Jack paddling his SUP. Little Jack asks if you an you spot the noseclip on the helmet and also Jack’s knife in his drawing?
Ed: And read about Jack’s first three points on p19. We all say well done Jack for staying so calm in water that must have been freezing!
If you have an article for the Newsletter, send it to [email protected]
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Bits and Pieces
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A small kayak for George Do you have a Dynamo or small Axiom that you’ve out
grown and would like to sell?
George (age 9) has been saving for and dreaming of his first kayak since he was six years old and he’s now ready to buy. If you have a paddle and other kit to go with it, so much the better. If you can help please call Honor or Ben on 01373 836467 or email to [email protected]
Three Star: 3/4 May. £135 Four Star training: 2/13 April, 6/7 September. £165 Four Star assessment: 1/2 March, 18/19 October. £150 WWSR: 8/9 Feb, 19/20 Apr, 4/5 Oct. £140
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Bits and Pieces
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Our new remote terminal makes
payments easy!
And you can now pay for sessions
in advance using the new Up-front
Payments Card.
Ask at a club session for details.
I am requesting your help. I am still searching for a Trolley Lock, as used on a supermar-ket trolley. I have searched our area and none found, on the internet you have to buy 5 so I seem to remember that we used to find trolleys in the River Frome. Not sure if they had locks on or not, but if you or anyone finds one, I will give
reward for it.
Contact me at [email protected]
We have .. the wall lights and can you spot the ones high up in the apex? Thank you to Stu, Mark, Jack, George, Gareth and Rich. It’s looking good now.
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Bits and Pieces
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Hi all from Andy at www.escapetoadventure.com As advertised late last year here is a list of my 2014 European WW kayak trips for 2014. This is ETAs 8th year running such trips and with our excellent reputation, best coaches, low ratios and excellent safety track record you can be rest assured to have the time of your life. ALL TRIPS INCLUDE TRANSPORT, ACCOMO-DATION, AND ALL GUIDING AND COACH-
ING all you have to buy is your food and drink 12th - 20th April (Easter) Corsican Adventure. Trip of a lifetime. Come and enjoy some of the best low volume steep creeking in the world. 4 places left 3rd - 10th May (Bank holiday) Scotland clas-sics and creeks. Explore the best of Scotland's Classics 6 places 24th - 31st May (Bank holiday) Italy Valsesia. The famous Sesia vally with its steep tribs a abso-lute must. 4 places left 21st - 29th June and the 2nd - 9th July French Alps Classics A very popular trip, Fun in the sun. first trip 3 places left, second trip 6 places left. 12th -20th July French Alps improvers Sorry Full. 26th July - 2nd Aug and the 9th - 17th August Austria/Switzerland Big volume fun on the river Inn and the excellent Endindine Swiss Gorges. 6 places left on each trip Please note other trips can be arranged in-between these dates for group bookings. See our website or contact me for more info. Hope to see you this summer - Cheers, Andy
Look out for
Megan’s
article about
club kit.
Also Megan will
tell us about the
thermals we are
to sell at Club
sessions.
And John will
give details
about slalom
training for
youth members.
Also next month’s issue will feature
the Tavy report with its dramatic
swims and rescues!
And we will have the copper nose-
clip points so far this year!
We mustn’t forget the three copper
noseclip points Little Jack got on the
Sunday Morning paddle in February.
He was trying out special new seat
that his Dad had made for the kayak
and over he went. But he did well,
followed instructions and was none
the worse for the dunking!
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Canoeing and kayaking are “Assumed risk” – “Water contact sports” that may carry attendant risks. Participants should be aware of and accept these risks, and be responsible for their own action and involvement.
Do you remember this one? Ian playing in Woolverton weir on New Years Day.
Well, here we go again! Frome trip 9th February! Read Rich’s article about the trip p8, and Jack’s epic rescue, p12
www.frome-canoe-club.org.uk
Check out the photos of club events on the website. And refer to the calendar for all the club activities.
Follow us on
CONTACTS
Chairman Alun Jones 01373 823513
Vice Chair: Gareth McGiveron
Treasurer: John Kent 01225 765168 [email protected]
Secretary: Pam Dixon 07740 472982 [email protected]
Head Coach: Rich Carter 01373 864623
Youth Rep: Stu Miles
Volunteer Reps: Jonathan Howell and Sally Smiles Kit Officers: Sally and Tim Smiles
Welfare Officer: Pam Dixon
